WORLD ARCHITECTURE While the Centennial celebrations were being prepared in Frutillar, in Lisbon the decision was made that the 1962 World Cup would be held in Chile. The challenging task of “building everything because you have nothing” fell to the Architecture Department. With a delegation of graduates, Edwin Weil toured Germany as a government official to see the new sports centers that had been built in that country after the war. An architectural testimony of that trip is the elegant architecture of the National Stadium's Velodrome. Following the model of several German cities, which took advantage of the rubble hills to build stadiums, the stands were supported on an artificial hill built with the land that was removed to sink the track four and a half meters. This was required by sporting regulations to avoid the effect of the wind in cycling competitions. In resonance with the Andean panorama of his hometown, the grandstands were arranged symmetrically for the San Ramón hill. The boulders that covered the slope and the two dressing rooms were removed from the excavation. The maintenance cost and carbon footprint of this sports infrastructure have been minimal throughout its 60 years of existence. Weil considered the National Velodrome Stadium, developed by an internal DA team, to be the most successful project of his career at the Ministry of Public Works. ACADEMIC LEGACY This outstanding government official developed a successful academic career at Universidad de Chile. He began as an assistant to Don León Prieto in the chair of Architectural Composition in the renewed 1946 Syllabus. In 1957, by competitive examination, he was appointed full professor. In the faculty crisis of 1963, along with 70 other professors, he supported Dean Juan Martínez with his resignation. He returned to the academy in 1970. As director of the Department of Urbanism, he welcomed Juan Parrochia when he was exonerated from the Santiago Metro. Students came to his FAU degree workshops with all kinds of assignments. Every problem was analyzed with a pencil and solved on paper. He argued that architectural styles could not be part of the problem, but always respond to the solution. He retired in 2006. A master's quality is recognized with time. As time goes by, new
facets of his work are discovered that allow us to appreciate it once again. For 50 years, Edwin Weil extended Frutillar's urbanity to the rest of the country through the buildings he designed for the MOP. In a world confused by Artificial Intelligence, the simplicity of his plans and the expressiveness of his watercolors are orienting. The legacy of this National Prize winner reminds us that the poetics of architecture should guide the technological advances of engineering. EXCERPT FROM EDWIN WEIL'S SPEECH ON RECEIVING THE NATIONAL ARCHITECTURE AWARD "All the projects that I have been responsible for designing since I started working in Public Works bear the hallmark of a planimetric approach with minimal structural compromises, and for more than 30 years, they have met these requirements. Major catastrophes are periods of acceleration in technology and force us to review criteria in order to deal more successfully with the periods that follow. Thus, the earthquakes that frequently strike our country force us to respond promptly to the replacement of public architectural infrastructure. In 1966, the entire area between Concepción and Chiloé suffered the most damage from the earthquakes in May of that year. Numerous buildings had to be rebuilt particularly schools, police stations, and public offices. Standard plans appeared as a way to reduce design time and apply them to many cases. Amid the urgent situation, we had to remain calm. The projects had to be efficient in their design, affordable in their costs, and simple in their construction. The 1939 earthquake had made it clear how NOT to proceed in such cases. Without seeking fashionable architecture, but with great pragmatism in the use of materials and form, respecting the environment and the landscape, we emerged from the emergency with completed works, consistent with what the country has a right to expect from the work of its technical officials. We know that we are not the most important, but we do know that our management has an impact on the actions of other government agencies, which make use of the product of our efforts; a dignified and efficient place makes the work of our public administration more useful, an objective that every government pursues”. !
162 ←
AOA / n°52
Made with FlippingBook - Online magazine maker